In my other life as a part-time estate agent some years back, I was showing a potential buyer around a smart apartment in a converted period mansion when we were both surprised to encounter our first bathroom with a washing machine in it. Luckily the Spanish owner of the apartment was in during the viewing (something general discouraged as it prevents the agent from selling properly, in cases where the property is perhaps cluttered, smelly or badly decorated and we can't be totally honest for fear of upsetting the vendor). I say 'luckily', since she told us that siting the laundry facilities in the bathroom was commonplace where she came from and that this layout was popular in Portugal too. She said she couldn't understand why we British have all the noise as well as the smells of the laundry process spoiling the convivial atmosphere where people gather and tainting the delicious aromas of cooking in the kitchen, which tends to be the hub of the household.

We both agreed that she had a point; the viewer ended up buying the apartment and I was able to impart my 'superior' knowledge to subsequent viewers of other properties that had been fitted out in a way that combined laundry rooms with bathrooms, rather than kitchens.

I'd forgotten all about this until I came across the Twitter discussions this week, in which people from various parts of continental Europe were arguing that the bathroom is indeed the correct place in which to house one's laundry appliances, rather than the kitchen which is the norm in the UK for the many properties that don't have space for a utility room.

Many of those who'd not come across the concept of being able to undress at night and put the discarded clothes straight into the wash, realised how useful this would be - something my Spanish vendor had pointed out to us.

In my capacity as editor of an e-zine focusing on cleaning & hygiene though, I wonder how clever it is to wash, dry and wear clothes that are, potentially, splattered with faeces and tiny droplets of urine, which fly about the bathroom and settle on surfaces if the loo is flushed when the seat is open?

It's known in the cleaning industry as the sneeze effect (image courtesy of purewashrooms.co.uk)...

What's your take on this?

Yours,

Jan Hobbs